


Breaking

by missreala



Category: NiGHTS into Dreams, ナイツ 〜星降る夜の物語〜 | NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Video Game)
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23481772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreala/pseuds/missreala
Summary: Reala is breaking.
Relationships: Reala/Jackle
Kudos: 6





	Breaking

Reala falls to his knees, the world spinning around him, pain running through his body. Visitors couldn't imagine a hurt like this - an injury not of skin or bones, but of existence itself, like the allotted space one has in reality has suddenly become too small. Reala crawls, slowly, whimpering like an animal. Familiar objects come in and out of view - books, a busted TV, a doll - they seem to come to him rather than the other way around, as though the first level has become a mere spectator to himself. Whatever "himself" is anymore.

He remembers being thrown down here by Wizeman. He thinks. He might be confusing it with the other times, they blend in. If he was in less pain, he might think to feel some shame, maybe even anger at his failure. At the fact that he has to fail alone. Something like a sob escapes him - of he can just find what he's looking for through the haze of pain and disorientation in this nonsense world, he'll be alright. He wonders how many more times he can go through this before he breaks. He remembers something that someone said to him, a long time ago:

_"This is the story of being a puppet: One day, you will break. But first, you must watch other puppets break. Maybe not so many, if you are lucky."_

At the time, he had rolled his eyes. Now, he- _Oh!_ At last!

Reala snatched the mantle off the ground shakily, wrapping around himself feebly. Curling into a fetal position, he dug his claws into his forearms, hugging himself will all the strength he could muster. He didn't even notice when the claws pierced his flesh, it felt like a tickle compared to the rest of the pain.

"Look what you've gone and done to yourself." a voice murmurs through Reala's lips, a pitch or two higher than his own voice.

"I know." Reala's own voice cracks into another sob, he pulls a hand away from himself to press the collar of the mantle against his mouth. 

"You're a good Nightmaren." Reala coos into the fabric in the higher voice, nuzzling against it. Who's voice? Does it matter? It's not like any of them are real people. Reala stopped asking himself why he had to put up with reality so long ago.

Reala's broken senses manage to pick up the sound of glass crunching under a boot, and his bright blue eyes flash open, sending tears streaming down his face. A black-and-white figure is standing before him, arms crossed, looking down at him like a kindergarten teacher might behold a particularly problematic toddler.

"Leave us alone!" hisses Reala, pulling the mantle even tighter about himself, punctuated by a hiccup.

"You can't stay in this hostless lair. It's going to collapse in on itself at any moment." Pono says.

"No! We stay together!" Reala snarls, shaking his head violently.

Pono sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. Reala grits his teeth and shudders suddenly, seeing her as NiGHTS for a moment before the purple fades back into black. 

"You're breaking, Reala. Come home with me."

"What about......" the red maren's voice trails off as he stares down at the orange fabric enveloping him, now wet around the collar.

"He'll be there. Come _on._ " Pono reaches out and makes an impatient beckoning motion, glaring down at him.

"Really?" Reala stares at her hand - and then stares past it, going limp like a doll, blank-faced.

Grumbling incomprehensibly under her breath, Pono steps forward, bending to scoop up the shivering maren with both arms. He allows it to happen wordlessly, closing his eyes and cuddling into the faded mantle again as he's carried off by the soldier. He hears what sounds like their surroundings beginning to shatter and decay, and pays it no mind. This existence stopped having meaning for him long ago, it feels like a bedtime story at the end of a long day.

"By Wizeman, we're barely going to make it." Pono breathes.

The two marens - one carrying the other - blip out of the lair just in time for there to be nothing.


End file.
